Third Person's POV
The meeting had been ended half an hour ago. Junho continued digging himself into more and more work without realizing the time until the lights doused and turned out after a loud spark. His gaze veered off from the screen of the laptop to the window to meet the rain pouring down heavily outside.
By getting immersed into office work he would cut himself some slack, borrowing another hectic platform for his mind to put the focus on, thus getting relief from the thick clouds of tension surrounding his life.
Closing the lid of his laptop, he grabbed his phone from the table and stowed the laptop inside the bag. Upon turning the flashlight on, he made his way out of his office. Lights flickered back only for a good few seconds. When he reached the 16th floor, he heard the rustling of papers. Arching his brows in the uncertainty of who could be there at that hour, he walked to the side where the sound was coming from.
"Hit on the motherf*cking break, man!", tsk...this nasty girl again. He thought.
"What are you doing here?", Alice's face colour turned into rather a dim shade as if she had seen a ghost.
Well, speaking of it, Junho wasn't less than a ghostly figure for her.
"Mr Geon?", resting her hand over the chest, she let out a sigh of relief.
"What are you doing here this late?", he asked again.
"I was waiting for you. I sent you to the list but you didn't reply", her shoulders slumped down as she revealed surly expressions.
"How would I reply when I was in a meeting?", it's not that Junho liked to mock people. Alice had been acting stupid and it is, certainly, driving him nuts now.
"I didn't know that", she replied fidgeting with her fingers.
"Wait a sec. Say that again. What you didn't know? That I was at the meeting? You have my schedule and you're still using this lame excuse before your boss? Got enough spunk? Huh, Miss Alice?", he took a step towards her.
"I don't have your schedule, Mr Geon", gulping the saliva down her throat, Alice retreated backwards. The current situation reminded her of the same night when Junho was drunk.
"Tsk...what's your position in this company, Miss Alice?", he asked, continuing with the steps.
"Secretary", Alice replied trying to maintain her balance on heels as she was taking steps in the reverse direction.
"Whose secretary?", boring his eyes into her, he inquired.
"Yours", Alice had been kicked Junho mentally several times for being a cold-a*s even in the stormy weather.
"Good that you know. Since you will be managing my schedules and meetings from now on, I hope I won't get to hear senseless excuses from you again", Junho brought his face down to the level of Alice's while placing his one hand, that is holding the laptop bag, on the table beside her.
"Are we clear now?", he asked at which the girl nodded quickly.
"Now if you're not thinking to spend your night here", backing off, he started walking. Alice also grabbed her bag and followed him.
"What was that?", wooshes of stiff wind producing a ghostly howling noise sent shivers down her spine.
"Howling wind", Junho, showing no concerns, kept heading down the building.
"Mr Geon, wait", they were walking side by side in a rather comfortable silence until Alice broke it. Junho turned around to find Alice taking her heels off.
"Okay, let's go now", she bent over at her waist, picked her heels off the floor and walked to Junho.
"What was that for?", not understanding why the girl slipped off her heels, he asked.
"I'm not used to wearing heels and since I'm off the work, I can do whatever I find comfortable for myself", she knew that she was going to hear an earful from Junho and that was the reason she added the last part. Junho stared at her with a different scene playing in the back of his mind.
Flashback
"Xiu, you can take them off if you've been tired of wearing them all day long", Xiu had a photoshoot at Chongming Island.
Junho also had to travel there for attending a meeting with Steve Tech's delegation that was sent from the United States to China. Steve Tech company was scouring for a high IT tech company to invest in China. Upon reaching there and hearing about Geon corporation and its unique and exclusive business gaining widespread recognition across the country, they decided to go for it. Junho was over the moon for convincing them for a big-budget investment.
After the meeting and Xiu's photoshoot, the couple decided to have a walk down the seashore with the setting sun. People were capturing a high-class, elegant couple of the country in their phones but only through the distance because bodyguards were walking by either side.
"No, my fans are here. You want me waking up tomorrow with articles all over the internet spreading the words that the famous model Xiu couldn't stroll in her heels."
The thought that other people's opinion of you mattered more than your own comfort and convenience lingered in Junho's mind all the time they spent on the beach.
Flashback Ends
"Mr Geon?", though he was looking at her, his mind was caressing someone from the past he had adored with all his heart.
"Mr Geon?", hearing her calling out his name, Junho snapped back into reality. Without saying anything, he began walking again as they finally reached the ground floor.
"Jeez!", with another spark of light striking over the sky followed by the thundering of clouds and a swooshing sound of the wind, Alice jumped in a panic to the side of Junho and hugged his sidearm.
'Is she trying to flirt with me? She doesn't look like one doing so', Junho thought.
"If you're done flirting, you can let go of my arm now", after a couple of seconds, he cleared his throat to grab her attention.
"I'm sorry", she quickly distanced herself from him.
"What! Flirting! And with You!", stressing over at 'You', Alice huffed in annoyance.
'So she's slow-witted. First, she made a sorry without processing my full statement then reacted after some time.'
"Got any problem with that?", Junho knew that girls swooned over his looks. If Alice also happened to have a crush on him, it would not come off surprising.
"It was because of the sudden thundering of clouds", she came up with a not-so-convincing reason. The boy could easily tell that she was lying.
"So you're afraid of thunderstorms", Junho sighed walking past her.
"No! I'm not! This haunted place could turn fierce lions into pussy cats", she ran to him, matching with his pace.
"I like how you were honest, even for a moment", Junho tried to hide my smile while they reached out.
"What are you talking about?", Alice asked when his driver ran to him, holding an umbrella over him.
"You just called yourself a pussy cat", he looked over at her now-annoyed face for one last time before walking down the stairs to his car.
"I didn't mean it like that!", Junho heard her continue muttering something as he sat in my car and the driver drove off.
"Stop", his driver parked the car at the side of the road. Suddenly he did not feel good leaving Alice alone in the pouring rain. Well, it was not his concern. It was not that he made her stay late at this hour. But she would not have if it were not for him.
'Godammit!, shaking all the thoughts, Junho straightened in the seat.
"Drive---wait", through the window he saw Alice running to the bus stop, barefoot. In a couple of minutes, a cab stopped by her but she did not get in.
"What is she waiting for? Standing barefoot, getting soaking wet in rain and letting a cab drives off. She doesn't seem to be in her right mind. As nutty as a fruitcake", he gestures his driver to drive.
"A*shole! Does he think owning this place makes him the owner of everyone in China as well! And I was supposed to go to the hotel. Oh, God! Let's just hug the rain for now. Calm down, Alice. Why losing your temper because of that bastard?", walking down the staircase, Alice rushed to the bus stop.
"No! Don't tell me I'm late to get a bus! God! Earth to Geon f*cking Junho!", while she was cursing at her boss under the heavy rain, a cab stopped by the bus stop but she refused to get in since she did not want to waste her money on fares.
She had told Feng that she would be giving half of the rent as she had gotten a job with a handsome salary. If she started spending her money like that, she would not be reaching anywhere. Though Feng was going to throw a hissy fit at her after seeing her drenched in the rain, she could stand it later. As she was contemplating what to do, a black Mercedes pulled over in front of her. The glass window rolled down revealing Junho.
"Get in."